Tag Archives: ireland

irish potato bread

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

No, I am not wearing green… but if I type this whole post in green from here on, does that count?  Okay, yay.  So, San Francisco has been taken over by a bunch of green wearing, beer drinking lunatics.  D and I are not partaking in the festivities, and instead went for a run around our neighborhood this afternoon and later are going to Rose’s for dinner.  Not a green beer in sight.  Actually, I’m drinking a lovely glass of Gloria Ferrer pink bubbly as I type this.  Pink is the new green, didn’t you know?

Okay, I realize I’m rambling.  What I wanted to share with you all was one of my favorite Irish recipes… Potato Bread.  I wish this would catch on here in the States, because although it is easy to make, it’s messy and a bit fiddly, so it would be so nice if I could run down to the grocery store and buy a pack like you can in Ireland.  Then again, I’d probably be consuming a lot more potato bread than I do now, so maybe it’s a good thing actually.  For now, we will have to rely on Irish house guests paying us in potato bread from Marks & Spencers, or I’ll just have to get  my hands a little dirty!

Traditional Irish Potato Bread 

2 lb mashed potatoes

1 cup plain flour

2 tbsp butter

1 ½ tsp salt 

Melt the butter and mix into the potatoes with the salt.  Work in the flour quickly but thoroughly and knead lightly.  Divide in two and roll out each half on a floured board to form a circle about the size of a large dinner plate.  Cut in quarters and cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side in a heavy frying pan using a little oil or butter. 

Although potato bread can be eaten at any point of the day, I think it’s best at breakfast, especially if mum’s cooking.  Everyone’s heard of the traditional Irish breakfast I assume, but in case you need a brush up it usually consists of bangers and rashers, fried toast, black pudding (ick!), fried tomatoes, potato bread or fried potatoes, eggs, and lots and lots of Irish tea.  That’s a lot of fried. Thankfully mum has come up with her own version with a lot less grease.  I suppose it’s a California-ized Irish Breakfast!

wheaten bread to tide everyone over whilst breakfast is cooking

(my Auntie Miriam’s recipe… I’ll ask her if I can publish it here on the blog)

bangers & bacon & potato bread

(b&b done on the bbq, pb crisped up in a nonstick pan)

“fried” heirloom tomatoes 

(done with a bit of olive oil in a nonstick pan)

lots of eggs…

(this time she did fried and scrambled, she usually does poached though) 

 and gallons of Barry’s Irish tea

Oh, and don’t forget… hot plates are an absolute must!

Sláinte!

btw, that’s the view from our holiday home (when we lived there) in Downings, Donegal!

ireland – part two

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Continuing on from where I left off, here’s some pics from the second half of our trip…

We took a wine tasting class one night at the Yellow Door… so fun.

I took lots of notes so I could appear to be very studious

you can never go wrong with wine & cheese pairings

see, totally serious students

me, Anna, Eimear, mum

My cousin Laura flew in with her daughter Madison from Nottingham… Maddie is two and a half and such a sweetheart.

How cute is her tutu?  I love girly girl outfits.

We figured a girls day was in order so we headed to Belfast for lunch at James Street South, one of the top foodie spots in Northern Ireland.

waiting for our table

Anna & Maddie

the food presentation was gorgeous… I started with the celery soup

Mum had the smoked haddock

I had a second appetizer for my main… the iberico ham which came with artichoke and an olive tapenade.

mum had the loin of pork

Eimear had the calves liver with braised oxtail

I wasn’t brave enough to try it… sounds scary.

Anna and Laura shared a couple of dishes…

I think this one was the john dory & monkcheek

they also shared the cured salmon

No Irish meal is complete without potatoes…

we ordered a side of champ for the table

and some chips

After lunch we drove by City Hall…

my dad used to work right nearby here!

Thanks Laura for making the trip over!

Miss Madison is just adorable!

The next night Anna, her husband Daryl and I had planned a night out on the town… after first having a hot potch dinner of roast chicken, prosciutto & Irish ham, and tomato & mozzarella salad.

First we stopped by McConville’s, which has been around since 1865, but moved to it’s current location in 1900.

I’m pretty sure that sign Anna’s pointing to gives a bit of the history… they’ve really kept the pub true to its origins which is so cool.

your quintessential Irish pub

They still have the original wooden “snugs”… small, private rooms for patrons who preferred to drink or conduct business in privacy.

I’m not really sure what this little guy is for… maybe to hold a cigarette in his mouth so you could light it??

We then headed across the street to Bennetts…

Daryl surprised me with a bottle of Tattinger for us to share!

Thanks so much Daryl!!

we walked home afterwards

but not without stopping first for some chips!

The next day was my Uncle Anthony’s birthday, and our family was coming over to Eimear’s for dinner.  Eimear wanted to make a thai beef recipe that she loves, so while she was at work I got to work on the herby mixture that gets poured over the beef at the end.  It was really easy, just a lot of chopping… you mix together lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, shallots, chili, spring onions, basil, & mint.  The end result was fab, plus you serve the beef at room temperature so it’s a great one for a party.

hostesses with mostesses

Mum made a fabulous mushroom & zucchini bake with a parmesan breadcrumb crust and of course some mashed potatoes… again, no Irish meal is complete without them!  I made my spicy chili asparagus… it’s so easy, you just heat up olive & sesame oil over medium heat, and then add the asparagus, some finely chopped red chili, and salt & pepper.  You can either boil the asparagus beforehand and then dunk in an ice bath (to maintain the bright green color) and reheat in the oil, or if you don’t have time you can cook them from raw on the stove… just don’t add the chili until you’re almost done.

Eimear also made a creamy chicken stew… we definitely had quite the feast!

Anna, me, and my cousin, Nicholas at the “kids table”

birthday boy with his cake

I know this photo is blurry, but I love it of mum and the cake!

It was soooooo good… she made a triple layer yellow cake with cream cheese frosting, topped with white chocolate shavings.

seriously decadent

Alas, we are on our last day… Anna took us to Marks & Spencer for a final shop, and then to Hillsborough for the afternoon.

loaded up with Marks & Sparks goodies

and then onto Hillsborough

I used to spend so many weekends here as a child with my great-aunt, Jill

My favorite thing to do was to walk around this lake with her and her dog, Heather.

it was just as wonderful as I remembered

There used to only be two swans, and then one of them died so the remaining swan was left all by himself (swans mate for life)… I wonder when and where all the swans that are now there came from!  We asked a couple of people, but no one knew.  Jill would have known…

it was fabulous being back

I have so many happy memories from childhood here

I wish we had had more time to walk around

we were able to stop by the Fort though!

cool, huh?

It was build in 1630!

old moat

um, not really sure what you call these

we walked by the old church

and then around to the front of the fort

One of Jill’s best friends used to be the groundskeeper here and lived at the fort… we spoke to the current groundskeeper and he told us that the fort is completely haunted… he hears footsteps, lights turn on and off, and one time all the burners on the stove in the kitchen ignited and no one was in there!!  So spooky.  He said there’s no way on earth he would live there, so it’s pretty crazy that Jill’s friend lived here for years and years!

I love this gate

beautiful, right?

the main walkway from the fort leading to the old courthouse

looking back at a woman walking her dog

some of the old homes

The Plough… one of our favorite lunch spots in Hillsborough

And my favorite children’s toy store, the Cheshire Cat

I was so excited the rocking horse is still there in the entryway!

the main road

Anna & Daryl had been looking at places to live in Hillsborough so I gave her a bit of a boost so she could peek inside one of the ones that was available!   Since then they found an apartment actually and have already moved!!  I can’t wait to see pictures of their new home.

distance marker to Dublin, Dromore, & Lisburn

Nana had some bubbly chilling for us for when we arrived back from Hillsborough and we had a lovely final dinner together.  Our flight to Paris was leaving at the crack of dawn the next day so we had to say our teary goodbyes then.  Ugh, goodbyes are so hard.  It was such a wonderful trip, but our time there flew by.  I wish I were able to go back more often… it’s sad not being able to see everyone all the time.

stay tuned for my Paris recap

ireland – part one

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This is a long one… I took lots of pictures every step along the way!  Too many actually, so I’ll split it into multiple posts so as to not bore you to death!

the adventure begins

breakfast in paris, just for a couple of hours before continuing on

next stop, Belfast

we made it!

here I am with my Nana Pam and my cousin, Anna

my welcome note… love this

and my fab “mini-bar” that Nana set up for me…

don’t worry, I shared

So right before we left Ireland in 1990 my dad planted a tree at the bottom of my Nana’s garden… She has since moved homes but she took a shrub from the original tree and replanted it in her new garden… it’s so big now!

I drank a lot of tea

and lots of bubbles

we ordered Indian takeout over at my aunt’s on Friday night…

chicken tikka is one of my favorite things, but I never eat it here bc D’s not a fan…

I’m hoping to convert him

Anna and I did a bit of party planning… my aunt, Eimear, had organized a girls potluck canapés evening for Saturday night and Anna and I said we would handle the food for our family’s share of the appies!

After kicking our mums out of the kitchen the next day, we zipped to the grocery store and then to the Yellow Door so we could pick up some food for lunch that we could snack on while cooking.  Oh, how I wish we had a Yellow Door here.  The food is so delicious and as good as homemade.  Possibly better.  And, how cool is this… Simon, the owner, mentions my Nana in his cookbook!

irish potato salad, a simple orzo salad, and the best mini sausages ever

Anna’s friend Ruth came over to help with the cooking… isn’t she the cutest pregnant chef ever?!

and here’s double trouble… Anna and I

we had a teensy bit of difficulty with the salted caramel chocolate pots

possibly bc we didn’t follow a recipe!

check out the final spread… these Irish ladies can cook!

and surprisingly we didn’t have too many leftovers!

the wee baked potatoes were my favorite

the party girls…

my cousin Rebecca, myself, Anna, & Ruth

black squared

I love this photo of mum & Susan… hugs all around

I wish I could say I had been traipsing around the Irish countryside snapping up photos and showing you how truly beautiful Ireland is, but there wasn’t much of that, or any actually.

What I did do though was snap a couple of pictures out the window of the car on the way to Marks and Spencers!

That works, right?!

yay, Marks & Sparks!!

she’s been let loose

a couple of skinny lattes for sustenence…

how cute that they give them to you with mini biscuits!

the food hall is my favorite part of the marks and sparks shopping experience

look at their christmas goodies

and their sponge cakes are out of this world

I brought one back with me

she is currently in my freezer, waiting for my birthday in January

(don’t mind those crumples on the box… that’s only because she fell head over heels off a luggage cart in Paris and tumbled to the ground!  After mum & I recovered from our fit of the giggles and retrieved her from the floor, miraculously she was okay.  Her bow falling off was the only casualty!)

look how the label shows who reared the mr. chicken

childhood favorites… fondant fancies

I’m bummed I didn’t bring a box home.

they have amazing prepared meals, ready to go like this indian one here

By this point we  had worked up an appetite so we stopped by their “deli” for a quick bite…

tapas for sharing

We chose the potatoes w/ pancetta, the chicken skewers, the meatballs, and the mushrooms w/ breadcrumbs & parmesan… yum.

Later that night we had plans to go see my Great-Uncle Kevin for dinner… I loved the country road we had to drive down to get to his home.

his daughter, Majella, made a lovely beef stew with mash

and we had a fantastic rhubarb tart with ice cream for dessert

thanks for the lovely bubbly, Uncle Kevin!

Stay tuned for part two… I have lots more to show you all, like our wine class at the Yellow Door, Laura & Maddie’s visit, a night out in Portadown with Anna & Daryl, my uncle Anthony’s birthday dinner, and a day spent in one of my favorite spots in the world, Hillsborough.